The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 86, Taoism (Part IV - Further Analysis and Discussion) Sep 20, 2020

Show notes

There was once a wise farmer named Oliver who, enjoying the evening's sun at the end of a summer's day, watched on as one of his prized horses escaped from his farm. That evening, having heard the news, Jack and Andrew came to Oliver's farm to express their sympathies. Oliver turned to his neighbours upon their arrival and said, "maybe."

The next day the horse returned, but brought with it six wild horses. Jack and Andrew, seeing the horses from their homes, ran to Oliver's exclaiming his good fortune. Olly turned to the men and said, "maybe."

The following day, Oliver tried to saddle and ride one of the wild horses. He was thrown off the horse's back and broke his leg. Jack and Andrew came to offer their condolences for the misfortune. Sat upright in his bed, without a wince, Oliver spoke clearly to the men once more, "maybe."

The day after that, conscription officers came to the village to recruit soldiers for the army, but because of his broken leg, Oliver was rejected.

Relieved, Jack and Andrew came to Oliver to proclaim how fortunately everything had turned out. Olly turned to them and answered, "maybe."

Contents

Part I. The Life of Lao Tzu

Part II. The Tao Te Ching

Part III. Practices

Part IV. Further Analysis and Discussion

Links

Tao Te Ching (Penguin)

Lao Tzu (Stanford Encyclopedia)

Taoism (Stanford Encylopedia)

The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet, Benjamin Hoff

Compare Translations of the Tao Te Ching

Episode 86, Taoism (Part III - Practices) Sep 13, 2020

Show notes

The day after that, conscription officers came to the village to recruit soldiers for the army, but because of his broken leg, Oliver was rejected.

Relieved, Jack and Andrew came to Oliver to proclaim how fortunately everything had turned out. Olly turned to them and answered, "maybe."

Contents

Part I. The Life of Lao Tzu

Part II. The Tao Te Ching

Part III. Practices

Part IV. Further Analysis and Discussion

Links

Tao Te Ching (Penguin)

Lao Tzu (Stanford Encyclopedia)

Taoism (Stanford Encylopedia)

The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet, Benjamin Hoff

Compare Translations of the Tao Te Ching

Episode 86, Taoism (Part II - The Tao Te Ching) Sep 06, 2020

Show notes

The day after that, conscription officers came to the village to recruit soldiers for the army, but because of his broken leg, Oliver was rejected.

Relieved, Jack and Andrew came to Oliver to proclaim how fortunately everything had turned out. Olly turned to them and answered, "maybe."

Contents

Part I. The Life of Lao Tzu

Part II. The Tao Te Ching

Part III. Practices

Part IV. Further Analysis and Discussion

Links

Tao Te Ching (Penguin)

Lao Tzu (Stanford Encyclopedia)

Taoism (Stanford Encylopedia)

The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet, Benjamin Hoff

Compare Translations of the Tao Te Ching

Episode 86, Taoism (Part I - The Life of Lao Tzu) Aug 30, 2020

Show notes

The day after that, conscription officers came to the village to recruit soldiers for the army, but because of his broken leg, Oliver was rejected.

Relieved, Jack and Andrew came to Oliver to proclaim how fortunately everything had turned out. Olly turned to them and answered, "maybe."

Contents

Part I. The Life of Lao Tzu

Part II. The Tao Te Ching

Part III. Practices

Part IV. Further Analysis and Discussion

Links

Tao Te Ching (Penguin)

Lao Tzu (Stanford Encyclopedia)

Taoism (Stanford Encylopedia)

The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet, Benjamin Hoff

Compare Translations of the Tao Te Ching

Episode 85, 'How Male Privilege Hurts Women' with Kate Manne (Part II - Further Analysis and Discussion) Aug 23, 2020

Show notes

Misogyny is the hatred of women, practiced only by a few bigoted men. A hatred, which is far from systemic. Sexual and domestic violence are at record lows and continue to decline. Women are entitled to equal pay, positions of power, and bodily autonomy, and these rights and liberties have been enshrined in law and accepted by the general population. Feminism is the rule, misogyny the exception: we are all feminists now.

This couldn't be further from the view of Kate Manne, Associate Professor at Cornell University and author of the hugely popular and multi-award-winning, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny. Today, Kate is not only one of the world's leading feminist philosophers (labelled as "The Simone de Beauvoir of the 21st century" by Amanda Marcotte), but according to Prospect Magazine, one of the "World's Top 10 Thinkers".

Today we'll be discussing Kate's newly released, Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women. Kate calls us to radically rethink our understanding of the nature and function of misogyny. Misogyny is not the hatred of women and girls, practiced by the few, it is controlling and punishing those who challenge male entitlement, practiced by the many. Misogyny is the law enforcement branch of the patriarchal order - a deterrent, a warning, a whip - which sustains the hierarchy of men over women. As history and the personal experiences of women so often attest to, those at the top of hierarchies often expect things from those beneath them.

Contents

Part I. Entitled

Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion

Links

Kate Manne, Twitter.

Kate Manne, Website.

Kate Manne, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny.

Kate Manne, Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women.

Episode 85, 'How Male Privilege Hurts Women' with Kate Manne (Part I - Entitled) Aug 15, 2020

Show notes

This couldn't be from further the view of Kate Manne, Associate Professor at Cornell University and author of the hugely popular and multi-award-winning, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny. Today, Kate is not only one of the world's leading feminist philosophers (labelled as "The Simone de Beauvoir of the 21st century" by Amanda Marcotte), but according to Prospect Magazine, one of the "World's Top 10 Thinkers".

Contents

Part I. Entitled

Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion

Links

Kate Manne, Twitter.

Kate Manne, Website.

Kate Manne, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny.

Kate Manne, Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women.

Episode 84, The Patricia Churchland Interview (Part II - The Conscience) Aug 09, 2020

Show notes

Introduction

Resting on our shoulders is the most complex object in the known universe: 86 billion neurons, each connected to 10,000 others. From Plato to Descartes, to the modern-day, philosophers have largely been ignorant of the workings of the brain, despite many questions in philosophy seeming to be intimately linked with its nature. Questions like: What are the origins of our moral intuitions, our conscience? What is the nature of decision-making? And how does the brain produce consciousness?

Following the recent upsurge of interest and research into neuroscience (reaching full steam in the 1970s), Patricia Churchland describes the emergence of neurophilosophy as 'inevitable', coining the term in her now classic book, Neurophilosophy: Toward a Unified Science of the Mind-Brain in 1986. Alongside Neurophilosophy, Patricia Churchland is best known for her books Touching a Nerve, Braintrust, and most recently Conscience, which (together with hundreds of other publications, interviews, public talks, and awards) have led her to be considered one of, if not the, world's leading neurophilosopher.

Currently Professor Emerita in Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, Patricia Churchland has knocked down the wall between science and philosophy, inspiring a new wave of thinking about life's most challenging questions.

For some, however, the wall was there for a reason: questions of philosophy should not be confused with questions of science. After all, what can neuroscience tell us about the origin of consciousness or the nature of morality? Our topics for this episode...

Contents

Part I. The Hornswoggle Problem

Part II. The Conscience

Links

Patricia Churchland, Website.

Patricia Churchland, Books.

Patricia Churchland, The Hornswoggle Problem.

Patricia Churchland, Conscience (IndieBound).

Patricia Churchland Conscience (Amazon).

Episode 84, The Patricia Churchland Interview (Part I - The Hornswoggle Problem) Aug 02, 2020

Show notes

Introduction

Contents

Part I. The Hornswoggle Problem

Part II. The Conscience

Links

Patricia Churchland, Website.

Patricia Churchland, Books.

Patricia Churchland, The Hornswoggle Problem.

Patricia Churchland, Conscience (IndieBound).

Patricia Churchland, Conscience (Amazon).

Episode 83, The David Chalmers Interview (Part II - Further Analysis and Discussion) Jul 26, 2020

Show notes

Introduction

The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of experience. How do 100 billion neurons come together to bring about a unified, conscious mind, and the rich tapestry of qualities that make up our world? This might be the most difficult problem in philosophy and science. No matter how rich our description of the brain, it seems that we'll still be left with this same question: where does consciousness come from and what is its place in nature?

Having coined the term 'the hard problem' in 1994, today, David Chalmers finds himself ranked amongst the world's most prominent thinkers. David is currently Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science at New York University, co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University, and co-director of the academic database PhilPapers. Amongst his many contributions, David is the author of The Conscious Mind, The Character of Consciousness, and Constructing the World. David's hundreds of papers, interviews, and talks, make up some of the most influential contributions to the field, breathing new life into the debate and inspiring a new wave of scholarship.

For many, the problem of consciousness goes beyond the dusty chalkboards of seminar rooms and into our day-to-day lives. Consciousness may well be the determining factor of what constitutes a worthwhile existence, or whether or not a being deserves our moral consideration.

The stakes are higher than the nature of the world itself. It's time to wake up and smell the roses… how can we explain consciousness?

Contents

Part I. Consciousness

Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion

Links

David Chalmers, Website

David Chalmers, Books (IndieBound)

David Chalmers, Books (Amazon)

David Chalmers, Papers

David Chalmers, Talks

Episode 83, The David Chalmers Interview (Part I - Consciousness) Jul 19, 2020

Show notes